So you have been to Orlando?
You loved it of course, that goes without saying. But, you feel like going to the coast for a couple of days, perhaps at the end of your Orlando trip? Maybe you are a little concerned about the driving? But then you have coped better than you thought. Well, after many years of spending loads of time, shopping, theme park hopping, water park surfing and lots and lots of eating, we decided this year we would step outside the box and take a mini road trip!! Being newly introduced to the Highway 27,West of Disney, we realised that our planned to trip to Fort Lauderdale, could be achieved by turning right out of our own villa community, on to the H27, and keep on driving, straight into Fort Lauderdale!!
We had little idea of how long this journey would take, but we had nothing but time, and were almost excited by the thought of the adventure of going somewhere in Florida that we were actually very unfamiliar with. The entire trip took us 5 hours, but we made the most of stops along the way, though we decided not to stop on the road side to see if the Alligator was in fact asleep in the sun, or dead as the result of a truck getting him in the middle of the night!!!
Along the way, we were genuinely surprised by how quickly we were driving on quiet, almost wide country roads, which were virtually traffic free!! When it was time to stop for lunch, we were beginning to think it may be difficult, as we had barely passed any built up area, let alone a town. But, as if by magic (well it is Florida), we came upon a Burger King at just the right time. We pulled in, to find REAL Florida life, no tourists, just friendly local folk and even cheaper meal prices (could it really be any cheaper?). Once we were fed and watered, off we went, the great thing we were aware of, was that although we had travelled for about 2 or 3 hours by this stage, it really didn’t seem like it at all, no traffic, nice sunny, clear blue sky and of course those fabulous air-conditioned cars, all helping to make the difference.
After a while, of totally pleasant driving, our next amusement came when we saw a sign for a school bus stop. Not a real belly laugh you might think, but what amused us was the fact that this school bus stop was on the side of a wide, but never the less dirt track road , with no development of shops, houses or anything for that matter for some miles, either side of it!! Where would the school children be coming from to get on the bus, and then, where would they be going to school??
Soon the whole terrain did change as we drew closer to Fort Lauderdale itself, traffic built up naturally, and the roads became a little more spaghetti junction like, but clear signposts guided us straight into Fort Lauderdale with no problems at all! And, we could see the sea, my daughter was almost as excited as the first time she saw the Cinderella’s Castle!